Turbo R18 Honda Civic: 50,000 kms and a second dyno session

This is a discussion on Turbo R18 Honda Civic: 50,000 kms and a second dyno session within Modifications & Accessories, part of the Under the Hood category; Originally Posted by niranjanrvce
Congrats Nikhil on finally getting to a stable build and putting so much miles on it. ...

Congrats Nikhil on finally getting to a stable build and putting so much miles on it. You have a lot of perseverance and looks like its paid off mightily. I am sure this car surprises many a German on the open roads! Are you still running the stock exhaust? I

Thanks Niranjan. Hope you're doing good!

I am still running the stock exhaust. But because of the turbo and changes in the plumbing, it sounds a bit throaty.... but it's very marginal. No one will hear my car and know that it's boosted.

I am still running the stock exhaust. But because of the turbo and changes in the plumbing, it sounds a bit throaty.... but it's very marginal. No one will hear my car and know that it's boosted.

I am doing good Nikhil and I am sure you are too, given that the car is running smoothly now
While I love the fact that it is a proper sleeper; wouldn't the exhaust restrict some power gains? I assume you still have the catcon in there, so getting rid of that and going for some bigger headers+downpipe should give even more gains no? Just a thought. Not sure if it can be done with the stock end can to keep the noise level down.

I am doing good Nikhil and I am sure you are too, given that the car is running smoothly now
While I love the fact that it is a proper sleeper; wouldn't the exhaust restrict some power gains? I assume you still have the catcon in there, so getting rid of that and going for some bigger headers+downpipe should give even more gains no? Just a thought. Not sure if it can be done with the stock end can to keep the noise level down.

Yes I am quite happy. You'll see more of why that is in my next update!

The exhaust might restrict some power gains, but again, all out power is not what I am going for. Secondly, a free flow will make a bigger difference with an NA car as there is no restriction post the cylinder. In a FI car like mine, there will be the big turbine which will anyway restrict the exhaust gases.

End of the day, theoretically, it will make a difference. However, the small difference requires a compromise from my side with regard to the noise. So, sleeper look it is!

Quote:

Originally Posted by RohanDheman

Ahem! Are you gonna provide us the with new look update or not?

Rohan

You've already seen it! You big troll! :P

Quote:

Originally Posted by dracul

Nikhil, Since you have an EGT Guage, what is the average reading, like idle, WOT, cruising etc...

One of the hardest things on a car is a trackday. Assuming, someone does justice to the track!

It is possible to drive calmly on the track and not push your car. But in that case, why would you go to the track in the first place?

I've been (in)famous in my small circle of friends for being extremely ruthless on my cars on track. Some of the criticism thrown at me was that I am very hard on the tyres and I come to track to destroy the tyres! While I am very hard on the tyres (probably, in the back of my mind, I know it will pinch me the least!), I have never gone to track to destroy tyres! If it's happened, then that's just too bad.

I have driven on MMST a few times in the past. Twice in my 2nd-gen City Vtec and twice in my Civic.

A quick summary of those are below!

2010: March and July in my 2nd-gen Vtec with AD07s.

2013 June with my Civic with AD07s in the front and Michelin at the rear.

2014 May with my Civic with AD07s in the front and Michelin at the rear.

Each time I have gone to track, I have come back without any issues in the same car. At worst, I had to change the damaged tyre to the spare wheel and drive back home.

Now, it was time to take my turbo Civic which had failed once on the road, to the track.

Do keep in mind, the head mod that we have done hasn't been done anywhere else. And we were always doubtful of whether the car would survive a full blown track day in my hands.

I was very clear that I wasn't going to take it easy. I was going to be brutal on the car.

Last edited by GTO : 23rd November 2016 at 22:59.
Reason: No acronyms when referring to cars :). Added the gen + name instead

I forgot to mention one aspect regarding the new clutch. Venkat adjusted the slave cylinder which resulted in my clutch pedal feeling softer. Now, the clutch doesn’t kick back as hard as it used to and it feels exactly like a stock clutch. Well, maybe a tiny bit stiffer but it’s so close to stock, I don’t even think about the clutch anymore. That itself is proof of how easy it is to drive. Earlier, I was always conscious about the clutch kicking back.

Having made up our minds to go and push the car on track, we decided to have a quick check of everything on Saturday.

Went to Blackworks and was there for approximately one hour. We found a boost leak through some threads in the Blow Off Valve body. We had an old BOV that was an OEM Nissan part. That wasn’t leaking so we installed that.

Checked the turbo shaft play and reinstalled everything and we were good to go.

Sunday morning, I pick up Joe and Venkat and we leave early-ish and meet up with fellow member Kryptonite and Vivek of Tune-O-tronics at Shoolagiri McDonalds. We drove together till about Kachipuram where Kryptonite and Vivek stopped for a break. We had to go further towards the city to collect some stuff from a friend in Chennai, so we pushed on. Had lunch at the dindigul Thalapakatti Biryani place on the highway near Poonamalee, collected our stuff and headed to track.

Our hearts were beating like drums. I’ve never been this nervous off late and all sorts of nightmare scenarios were running through my head. What if I required a tow truck? How do I get back to Bangalore in time for a meeting the next day?

We reached the track, met the person in charge, made the payment, signed the indemnity forms, unloaded everything from the car including the spare wheel and set off.

The first lap was an easy lap. Just trying to remember the braking points, the corners, warming up the car and checking how everything is feeling.

Then did a couple of really all out fast laps. Fast doesn’t mean fast according to the clock, but just pushing the car to red line in 2nd and 3rd and braking hard and driving all out.

Everything seemed to be holding up and after 3 laps or so, I decided to slow down and drive to the pits.

This is where organic manure hit the an apparatus with rotating blades that creates a current of air for cooling or ventilation.

We noticed smoke coming from the vent in the hood. Extremely tense, we noticed a funny smell as well. The car though was responding as usual. The coolant temperature readout was normal, the air temp readout was normal and there were no other funny noises.

We realized that the underhood insulation must be smoking as the smell wasn’t oil or fuel or metal.

I was anyone on my cool down lap and was heading into the pits. As we entered the pits, we realized that it was no longer smoking but flaming!

Immediately rushed out of the car and popped the hood. The entire insulation was properly on fire and the plastic hood vent had also melted/was melting.

A fire extinguisher was brought and we quickly brought the fire under control. A lot of melted plastic was found on the valve cover and nearby parts. After using the fire extinguisher, a thick film of white fire retarding powder coated the entire engine bay and the glass windshield. Since we hadn’t had the time to close the doors, the entire interior of the car too was covered in a thin film of white powder.

This entire incident played out in the pit lane with all the other participants coming to help us or just watch. After allowing everything to cool down for a few minutes, we inspected the engine bay. Nothing seemed to be damaged. Some insulation for some wires seem to have melted. Vivek of Tune-O-Tronics helped us with clearing some of the melted plastic from the engine bay.

I heard someone telling someone else to bring up the number of the tow truck guy as we would need it. Joe and Venkat were confident nothing had happened to the engine. So, we cranked her up and the engine started with just a half crank of the key!

Waited for a few seconds and nothing dramatic happened. We then drove the car slowly to a place where they had connected a hose. Using the track’s supply of compressed air, we blew away the excess powder from the windshield and the engine bay.

And then, we did something no one expected us to do.

We hit the track again! We could see the looks of amazement on everyone’s faces as my car exited the pit lane. It had been a total of 30 minutes since the fire.

The first lap was slow. I was just gauging the engine and the way the car was feeling. Venkat and I listening hard for any unusual noises or sounds.

Nothing.

Whisper silent except for the beautiful, glorious whistle of the turbo spooling and as I revved higher, just the lovely sound of the engine.

We had been through so much, and in the very first outing on track, the car was all “fired” up! Decided to go for broke. Floored it and started pounding lap after lap.

The car was pulling cleanly, braking very well and turning in beautifully. If at all I had a problem, it was the tyres. They were clearly no match for my driving style!

Kept pounding on for lap after lap. Didn’t count how many laps I did before pulling in, but it as probably around 8-9 laps. Pulled into the pit lane and allowed the car to idle for a couple of minutes. Inspected the engine bay and everything was looking absolutely fine!

A bit more relieved now, we started discussing other things and how much more we could pound on the car.

I wasn’t timing myself or paying too much attention to the lines, apexes, etc etc… I was just going as hard as I could on the car.

As you can see from my previous post, every time I’ve gone to track before this, I’ve had AD07s on the car. Those tyres are absolutely legendary. I would go full tilt into a corner and the tyres would grip and grip and grip and grip until I exited the corner. I’m pretty sure they will continue to grip until the end of time, the second coming of Jesus and Judgment Day!

This time, I went in with Continental MC5s in 205/55-16. These are the tyres I run on my car all the time on the road. I love these tyres and am mighty impressed with them. However, on the track, they were giving up very quickly. I managed to set only one proper timed lap using Vivek’s VBOX and that was early on in my session. I did a 2:18.6. After that, my tyres got progressively worse and I started going slower and slower in the corners.

These tyres are absolutely brilliant on public roads, but here, they let me down badly. I’m still not too disappointed though. This trackday was never about laptimes or anything. I did try to stick to the lines that I thought were correct but it really wasn’t my focus. Also, I realized my AD-07 driving style doesn’t work with these kind of normal tyres. I need to brake properly and then turn in rather than just piling into a corner at top speed and expecting the tyres to do everything.

Probably next time I’ll try to drive like a normal person!

Leaving aside the tyres, the car performed brilliantly. There were a couple of times I lost the back end of the car and almost spun. I was totally impressed with the way the car held it’s line and allowed me to recover from a slide. And on the straights, the turbo was just slinging the car down in double quick time. Because at high revs, my car sounds just like a stock Civic, there were many times I almost felt it was going slow. A quick look at the speedo assuaged any doubts I may have had!

In total, we covered 112kms on track. Given that the track length is 3.7 kms, that means we covered about 30 laps. And for these 30 laps, I got a fuel economy of 3.82 km/litre!

We wrapped our session early as we had covered a lot of distance and the car had survived. It survived a fire early on, then survived another 100 kms of abusive driving on track, 2 almost spins, everything.

I also have a phobia about driving at night, so I wanted to cover as much distance as possible when there was still natural light. The Civic’s stock headlights are also terrible. So, by 4:45, we said goodbye to Kryptonite and Vivek and left the track. Stopped for a quick purchase of MinuteMaid Lemon flavor, cold water at Muscat Bakery and hit the roads.

On the roads, it was an absolute dream to drive the car. It was smooth, refined, silent and a beautiful mile muncher. The only negative effect of the trackday had been some uneven tyre wear which was causing a very faint, barely audible humming noise at speeds above 100kmph.

On the highway, the car is immensely stable and planted. At incredible speeds, lane changes are just easy.

It got dark very quickly and as a result of that, my speeds dropped and we were just about averaging 80-90kmph for most of the journey from Walajahpet to Bangalore. Got a mileage of 8.7 on the return leg.

I got home around 10:30 after circumnavigating the city dropping off Venkat and Joe.

The car that reached home was the same car that left in the morning but with one big battle scar to show for the day’s heroics.

On Monday night, I got a hood from another Civic that belongs to friend Bhuvan_prasad and installed it on my car while Bhuvan’s Civic is getting worked on.

I have sent word to a few people trying to source a used hood in any colour. I was anyway planning to get my car repainted soon. So, a hood of a different colour will not matter as I will get the entire thing repainted.

As of now, it’s been a bit more than a week and the car is still running around the city serving me day in and day out.

I’ve not seen any aftermarket turbo cars complete a trackday with this kind of abuse.

I can safely say this is probably India’s best used/abused Civic and it still puts up with everything.

This car has gone through a lot and it still astonishes me with what more it has to offer.

In that post, I had mentioned that we were going experimental with the new modified head of the engine. One trackday is still not enough to declare that the head mod is 100% reliable, but definitely a firm step in that direction.

Max Coolant temp: < 80*C
Max IAT: < 40*C

This was a major surprise. Do remember that I don’t have a Front Mounted Intercooler but a remote mounted one. Air is channeled to the intercooler via TPR hoses and clearly it works as well as a FMIC.

A couple of videos I've made. I have a few more, but they are just more of the same. Do watch in FullHD for better clarity and the digital speedo is also clearly visible. You can get an idea of how the car continues to accelerate post 100. There is absolutely no let up in the ferocity of the car!

After this round of pounding on track, I am now happy to wait for the next monster from Blackworks. Another Civic but with a completely different engine under the hood! And a turbocharger as well!

To summarise:

2010 Civic V M/T.
1,63,xxx kms run in less than 7 years.
Driven on BIC
2 trackdays on MMST in NA form and 1 with Forced Induction.
Driven to Delhi and back (twice)
Driven to Leh, Khardung La, Pangong Tso
Driven to the Southernmost point of India, Kanyakumari.
Got turbocharged at 1,29,xxx kms.
Covered 30,000 kms under boost in less than a year.
Completed a full trackday while boosted.
Survived a small fire and brought its occupants back safely.

Before the turbo charging, the biggest challenge was going to Leh. My car was absolutely perfect through the entire trip. At the highest of altitudes, where a breakdown could be disastrous, it was perfect. We reached Delhi and parked outside our hotel and the battery died. It could have died anywhere, any time. But it died just outside the hotel! I couldn’t have asked for anything more from my car! My wife and I checked in, I spoke to a couple of TBHP friends in Delhi and the next morning, a new battery was brought to the hotel and changed.

However, I do believe there is a special connection between the owner and the car. I’ve showered love on this car from day one and I know it’s stupid, but I feel my car reciprocates my love. It has always exceeded expectations and taken care of me.

Wow, Nikhil, bravo to run the car even after the fire incident! I for sure would have given up. Had the smoke/flame ignited on public road or highway, it would have been a closed call. If you have not invested in a good fire extinguisher, its about time.

HAhahahahah, the Veyron comparo with the 'close enough' character got me rolling on the floor. Phenomenal track session and good save on that oversteer. Ill be at the track next week in a Polo GTI..hopefully will be as much fun.